(ANALYSIS) I often think of religious traditions as a styrofoam cup. Each of them has a different level of water in them at any given time. However, that volume of water never stays fixed for long, because religious groups operate in a volatile environment with constant pressure to rise or fall.
Read More(ANALYSIS) To believe a lot of the commentary, especially on the right, you would think America is headed, if not already sinking, into a bottomless moral abyss. But a recent report tells a rather different story. If America was on an immoral path, it is now slowly correcting course. Emphasize slowly.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The Pentagon needs to define America’s religious categories due to chaplains’ responsibility to handle the spiritual needs of soldiers as effectively as possible. The problem is that Americans’ religious choices are pretty much uncountable.
Read More(ESSAY) At Christian colleges across the nation, a “ring by spring” is a polarizing cultural phenomenon that comes with quirky rituals. There’s the “freshman frenzy,” the “senior scramble” — and on my campus, one infamous ice breaker known as “Awk Walk.” Underneath these traditions is an inescapable anxiety: Will you meet your spouse or graduate single?
Read MorePope Leo, who spent two decades serving the Catholic church in Latin America, is expected to visit the diocese he led before his election in Chiclayo, a city in northwest Peru. Other stops on the 11-day trip include several cities in Uruguay and Argentina, with a full itinerary to be announced closer to the trip.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Disestablishment was not just a cornerstone of American democracy. It was also an engine for the extraordinary growth of philanthropy, which played an important role in fueling American churches’ growth and innovation.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Fewer marriages, fewer believing mothers and fewer traditions carried forward add up to a generation raised inside a custom-built crisis of meaning. America needs religious men. To endure and thrive as a civilization, it may need religious women even more. The reasons aren’t mysterious.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Back in November, I wrote a post that I knew was going to cause a stir because it answered one of the most burning questions in my mind: “How Big is the Political Divide Between Mainline Clergy and Laity?”
Read More(ANALYSIS) Instead of just focusing on a single question and making a bunch of graphs that try to figure out that causal puzzle, I am going to share a few things that I’ve learned after doing this kind of work for the last 10 years.
Read More(ANALYSIS) What began as an exercise movement of primarily older adults in China’s northeast has proved to provide the largest, best-organized and most-sustained resistance to Chinese government rule since the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
Read More(OPINION) On the surface, “DTF St. Louis” is a sordid tale presented for voyeuristic yucks or titillation, but it actually offers a serious meditation on the human need for meaning.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The secular world has engineered a brilliant liturgy of despair and its high priests come with PhDs in economics. You’re no doubt familiar with the prevailing narrative, as familiar as it is depressing. Marriage has become a luxury product, crushed by stagnant wages, soaring living costs and, in many places, a housing market where buying your first home is impossible.
Read More(ANALYSIS) There’s a running joke in American religious life that goes something like this: Ask 10 Catholics what the church teaches on a given issue, and you’ll get eleven different answers. It’s meant to be affectionate, a nod to the big-tent nature of a tradition that has managed to hold together nearly a billion people across wildly different cultures, languages and political contexts.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The share of Americans who indicate that their current religious tradition is the one in which they were raised is 66%. Most people living in the United States will die with the same faith into which they were born, and that’s been true for decades. But how people switch and why they switch may be changing.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Sometimes the doom scrolling really does pay off. I hate to admit it, but flicking through thousands of social media posts a week is a way that I can find interesting stories to write about for Graphs about Religion.
Read MoreIt’s the conflict that seems to never end — and Americans have shifted their opinions on it. Following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, a messy war ensued in Gaza. Americans fiercely debated which side, if any, the U.S. should align with. After almost three years of war, researchers have been able to gauge how American sentiments about Israel, Palestine and Hamas have changed over time.
Read MoreAntisemitism spans the political spectrum. On the far right, antisemites may support a vision of America under white supremacy. On the far left, antisemites may consider Jews oppressors and white colonialists.
Read More(ANALYSIS) A culture that laughs off the parting of the Red Sea will nod along when a man declares himself a woman. A culture that calls the Jesus’ resurrection absurd will assure you civilization can thrive after dismantling family, faith and biology. Walking on water is preposterous. Walking away from every inherited moral guardrail is sophisticated.
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